I’m running out of storage space. In the past (2021) I have mentioned my NAS, a ZyXEL NAS542. When I purchased this device, I looked up whether it could run a custom Linux rather then the factory default image. I found it could, but what I neglected to look for is mainstream Linux. So I was rather disappointed at the possibilities. I could not find enough information about the process. I found some image for OpenMediaVault, but that was a disaster, stuck between the migration between traditional init scripts and systemd. So I stuck with the factory default. The factory default image is Windows focussed. NFS support is an afterthought. I had to log in to a shell and make a symlink to be able to share the same data to both NFS and SMB. So, I doubt I will be looking for a ready-made NAS anytime soon, they’re not providing what I am looking for.

So, what lead me to purchase this NAS? I had this Odroid-U3 with a couple of external hard disks running an NFS server. This set-up works fine, and is still running, even though I have decommissioned one disks due stability issues. And that is the thing, this setup had been running for years, and how reliable are these hard disks after many years. SMART is reporting good health, but still… that’s why I wanted a RAID setup.

Regarding the decommissioned hard disk, or the reliability of external hard disks in general, in my experience, the hard disk is fine, it’s the USB-to-SATA board in the external hard disk case that gives the ghost. But still… I’ll feel more comfortable if an ageing hard disk is part of a RAID array, just in case.

So, that brings me back to the status today, I am running out of storage space. And looking for a new NAS solution, but this time, something custom. I had a look at some case, a Argon EON, a NAS case for a Raspberry Pi 4. I still have an unused Pi 4 laying around, so that’s great. However, the thing is out of stock. So no go. I have been looking for other solutions, and then I looked at the prices of hard disks these says, and, well, those prices made me decide to go for a different road.

I looked through my stash of old hard disks. Hard disks of 250 GB and 320GB, the oldest one is over 20 years old. But well… SMART still looks good. So, I ordered a bunch of USB cases for my disks. Some IDE, some SATA. I am waiting for my order to arrive, and then I will be setting up some SBC running my disks in RAID5 and serving the data over NFS.